I am studying this image from the Members Gallery of Scrapbooking Layouts>5angels>Simply Irresistible. How did she do that? I've tried looking up Melgen Designs Sunshine Blues with no luck. Seems like some kind of bokeh thing combined with a combination of layer effects. I really would like to figure it out. I have an image that it would be fun to use it with. Any guesses?

I am studying this image from the Members Gallery of Scrapbooking Layouts>5angels>Simply Irresistible. How did she do that? I've tried looking up Melgen Designs Sunshine Blues with no luck. Seems like some kind of bokeh thing combined with a combination of layer effects. I really would like to figure it out. I have an image that it would really be fun to use it with. Any guesses?

I'm not sure how this was done and I've included a link to the layout in case anyone else wants to look at it - maybe someone else can help you with it. Normally, I would suggest sending the member a PM, but she has not been active in the forums since February of 2008. Maybe someone else will have an idea for you as to how she achieved the effect, or maybe some ideas for you to try to achieve something similar.

I just noticed there is a website listed on her profile page under contact information if you do want to try to contact her.

I'm not sure either, but it looks more like a blending mode for the dot pattern than bokeh. The reason I think this is that it looks lighter or darker depending on what's underneath. My usual experience with bokeh, although you could use a blending mode to get this effect, is that it usually consistently lightens or darkens. Also, bokeh is usually more varied in position and size, intending to reflect the way light's been bounced around.

If I had to guess, I say a dot pattern brush or overlay with a blending mode such as burn, dodge or hard/vivid light. FWIW (for what it's worth), my two cents!

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Posted 24 December 2011 - 09:32 AM

It will be interesting to hear what she did. It looks like most of the work is in the background and done with half tones. I know someone had halftone something, I think brushes, here a couple of years ago. Of course, halftones can be found in your software as well. To mimic it, I'd do my background with a painted effect, blended, over a neutral page (white), then I'd blend a halftone colour over the central area. The umbrella, looks like a big flower, that's been tipped and blended into the background. Extract the the photo and blend it into the background - probably a soft light and may need to lower the opacity on it. I haven't done this, but just thinking that it might work if you want to play around until you hear from her. Have a safe and happy holiday season. :-)

Wow, what a pretty layout! I can see why you would want to know what technique she used. Looks to me like a blend mode applied to the photo which makes the dotted paper show through, since the dots don't appear to be in a random pattern. Bokeh would look a little more random. You could get a great bokeh effect with a few products we have here:

Oh,Wow! Now I need to find a tutorial on using the dynamic brush sets. Especially since they are on sale. I did find a bubble wrap texture on the web that maybe would work, but I'm kinda leery of downloading free things from sights I don't know. Anyone have an idea of how she got those happy Popsicle colors? Maybe fooling with layer effects. I just love the overall look. It would be just the thing for little girls birthday parties.

Found this paper in my stash, part of a kit named Summertime Blues (not available at SG). Looks like the designer used a series of small circles and ovals with additional random ovals brushed here and there over a base color of pink. There are grungy layers of green and yellow with additional swirls that looked brushed in the right lower area. The umbrella is part of the paper.

Tracey was kind enough to reply to my email, and because the project was done five years ago she does not totally remember. She thinks she blended the photo on top of the background paper and erased any unnecessary background from the photo. She suggested creating a mask to hide the background. Tracey also shared that the designer of the paper has gone out of business. Too bad for me. I really covet that paper. Maybe I can put something together to come close. Isn't it funny that I covet papers instead of diamonds, furs or whatever?